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Purpose: This study investigated media and communication practitioners' perspectives on the journalism curriculum education in Malaysia. Curriculum plays an important role in providing quality education for students. Journalism is a dynamic field that integrates industrial experience and fundamental knowledge in the field from higher educational institutions. Scholars in the field are divided on the issue of whether it is important for academia to consider input from industrial players in shaping the curriculum on journalism education in higher institutions of learning. Methodology: Drawing from the researchers' experiences and guidelines from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency, the Taba Model was adapted as the theoretical framework for the study. The study used a semi-structured interview method. Fifteen experts were interviewed. They have served more than 10 years in the media industry and have held various executive positions. The interview protocol was developed based on the literature review and guidelines from the curriculum review of Communication and Media Studies. The interviews were conducted at the offices or homes of interviewees. Each interview ranged from 1 to 2 hours. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: The findings revealed four main themes, namely (1) Strong general knowledge requirement, (2) Right skills mattered, (3) Interest in the field--ability to adapt and learn, and (4) Specialised knowledge. The analysis of interviews indicated that curriculum needs to be revised based on academic convention and industrial needs. Significance: Thus, these findings lend further support to the clarion call for industry and academia to collaborate extensively in nurturing high quality graduates in journalism.

This paper discusses the tendency of new voters to vote for the first time in the 15th General Election (GE15). Based on the statistics released by the Election Commission (SPR), the number of new voters who voted for the first time is around 6.2 million, of which 1.3 million are between 18 and 20 years old. Since they are a group of first-time voters, the tendency of their political support could be unclearer. Many parties wonder where their political support is headed, especially in the manycornered competition involving extensive political cooperation such as Perikatan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan, Barisan Nasional, and Gerakan Tanah Air. Accordingly, this paper aims to examine the tendency of new voters during the last GE15 campaign period through an online survey. The survey was conducted openly with the target of eligible voters, and 1438 respondents have given feedback. The study results show that 91 percent of the total number of respondents will go out to vote, and they tend to choose elected representatives who have integrity and are free of corruption, do not break promises, and are highly educated. Most of the group of respondents also tend to support national political trends. From that, new voters who vote for the first time have a good intensity of political literacy. Therefore, they become the determinants of changes in the current political support unrelated to political patronage elements like previous generations. They can also be catalysts for change in society in general and the country's leadership in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of political knowledge in engendering political participation among youths in a society cannot be overstated. Yet, there is scarcity of research in this area. Thus, this study assessed the moderating role of political knowledge in the relationship between Access to Political Information on Facebook and Twitter (APIFT), Political Interest (PI) and Policy Satisfaction (PS) with Online Political Participation on Facebook and Twitter (OPPFT). A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 238 undergraduate students of Universiti Utara Malaysia. Questionnaire was used to collect data which was analysed using Partial Least Squares-MultiGroup Analysis (PLS-MGA). Results revealed that political knowledge moderated the relationship between access to political information on Facebook and Twitter and political interest with youth online political participation on Facebook and Twitter. However, it did not moderate the relationship between policy satisfaction with youth online political participation on Facebook and Twitter. Generally, these findings suggests that political knowledge plays a significant role in youth online political participation in Malaysia. Consequently, this study has added empirical evidence to predictors of political participation while at the same time contributing to the body of knowledge on online political participation.

Nowadays, there are various forms of actions and provocations that are against the culture and values of patriotism among the Malaysian community, especially school leaders who are said to be unpatriotic. This paper focuses on the awareness of religious school leaders which consists of Religious Secondary Schools (SMA), Government Religious Aid Schools (SABK) regarding the level of knowledge of religious school leaders regarding the knowledge of patriotism. The problem of lack of awareness of the value of patriotism will certainly challenge and prevent the application, nurturing of values and the spirit of patriotism as an element in the formation of a harmonious and united Malaysian nation. A total of 263 religious school leaders in Malaysia were involved in this study. The results of this study were obtained through a questionnaire that was analyzed descriptively. The overall measurement of the instrument, which is the concept of patriotism and patriotism in the constitution, which is the main construct to assess the level of knowledge of religious school leaders regarding patriotism. The results of this study show that the religious school leadership's awareness of the value of patriotism is high. The level of school leaders' awareness of patriotism in the constitution is also high and shows that religious school leaders who are patriotic are capable of being an intermediary factor or agent of change towards the bond of community unity and students of various ethnicities in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights a study conducted to identify media research theories around the world based on academic articles in online academic databases, as well as identifying the areas of media that have been focused in research. This article also discusses eight major theories most frequently applied in media studies, namely Cultivation Theory, Agenda Setting, Media Richness, Uses and Gratification, Gatekeeping, Technology Acceptance Model, Innovation Diffusion Theory, and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. The literature research approach was applied to identify the theories used by media research throughout the years 2002 to 2012 based on articles published in the academic databases subscribed by the Universiti Utara Malaysia Library. Access to four databases using relevant keywords resulted in a search of 2,366 media research articles published in 951 journal categories for the period of 2002 to 2012. The trend of the decade of media research shows that media is a flexible inter-disciplinary field. Because of this, the articles obtained in this study were not specific to the media journal alone. Discussions on the media in different areas of research enable it to be presented from a diverse perspective that ultimately witnessed media studies published in journals with different levels of impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]